


Can't Trust a Reflection

by Frechisia



Series: Dark Shiro Week 2017 [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Dark Shiro (Voltron), Day 3, Kuro Week 2017, mirror image
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-20
Updated: 2017-06-20
Packaged: 2018-11-03 19:58:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10974303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frechisia/pseuds/Frechisia
Summary: Lance finds out that Shiro doesn't like to see himself in mirrors. He tries to boost his self-esteem, but that's not the reason Shiro won't look.





	Can't Trust a Reflection

Lance was sure he was the only one who noticed. Not much others went into Shiro's room besides Allura, who probably never thought about it, and if she did she might just chalk it up to a human thing and forget. Yeah, it was definitely just him, and of course the person in question, who actually paid attention to it. 

Shiro had no mirrors.

It might not have seemed very big, but Lance knew practically every reflective surface in the castle. He also knew that every room and attached bathroom had a total of three mirrors that were there to start off with. That meant that Shiro had actively taken off all three.

Shiro is a giant pile of hotness mixed with charm, so of course Lance is going to try to do something about it. No one should be ashamed of how they look, that's what his family always told him. If Shiro went as far as to avoid looking at himself, well, Lance had to be there to fix it.

So he may or may not have started dropping some compliments here and there. 'Great hair, Shiro' and 'Man, the ladies must be after you.' He even tried to get Allura to put in her two cents, but she's a princess. Raised to be polite and not comment on a guy's biceps no matter how amazing they look.

He only received a couple of awkward looks and shy smiles from their leader. It was a start, but not even close to fixing the problem. So he tried a bolder move.

The easy part was getting it into Shiro's room. The hard part was finding markers and construction paper to finish it off. In the end he finished it though, and placed wrapping paper to cover it until Shiro came back to his room from training.

He waited down the corner of the hallway when he heard Shiro walking to his room. Once Shiro went inside, Lance sidled up next to the door. He waited a moment, long enough to make sure that Shiro had enough time to see it and take off the wrapping paper.

He went inside the room ready to see the look of surprise on Shiro's face. What he actually saw, though, ended up being surprising itself. Shiro had his fist lit up and sailing towards the mirror on the wall.

"Shiro!" Lance sputtered. His leader stopped just before his hand could smash the mirror. He was panting, as if waking up from a nightmare. His eyes darted between Lance and the mirror.

"Lance?" His body was still tense, but he put his arm down. "What're you doing here?"

"Wanted to see if you liked the gift I got you." He rubbed the back of his head nervously. "Guess the sign was too much?" Shiro didn't even seem to know what he was talking about, until he looked above the mirror and saw the words 'LOVE YOURSELF' in big letters on construction paper.

"Ah, its great, Lance. Thanks." It didn't take a Pidge-level intellect to see that bull-faced lie. 

Maybe Shiro just isn't ready yet. Lance went up and took the mirror off the wall. Shiro tried to protest. "No, it's fine, it's just—"

Lance waved a hand. "I guess you can't handle your own handsomeness. Happens to me all the time." He winked, hoping to get a smile out of Shiro. He only got a guilty look in return. "Look, I'll hold onto it. There can never be enough mirrors in my room. When you're sure you won't get blinded by the light in your reflection, just tell me." 

Shiro still looked a bit regretful, but he also looked pretty terrified of the mirror, which didn't really make much sense. That was for him to sort out, Lance guessed.

He went to his room and put it up on the wall at the foot of his bed. That way, he'd wake up every morning to his gorgeous face.

Lance did his normal routine before going to bed. He should've suggested it to Shiro, but considering how today went, he probably should lay off their leader for a bit.

He went to bed with his sleep mask and put on his headphones to play some relaxing music. Within seconds he was asleep.

———

Lance blinked his eyes blearily. It was still night, the lights were off. What woke him up?

A shadow stood over him, and it took him a moment to recognize who it was. "Shiro? What are you doing?" As his eyes better adjusted to the dark, he could see that Shiro held his sleeping mask. Lance took off his headphones. "Is everything alright?"

"Everything's fine." There was a tone to his voice that screamed _wrong_. "I just wanted to thank you for the present. It was really sweet."

"Uh… welcome? Could've told me that tomorrow, or, well, later this morning."

"I know. It's just that no one else really noticed that I kind of avoid seeing myself." His bed dipped down beside him, and he could feel Shiro put his arms on either side of him.

"Yeah, that's the kind of guy I am." His voice hit a higher pitch than he'd like to admit. Shiro snickered.

Alarm bells went off. Shiro doesn't snicker, and Shiro doesn't visit in the middle of the night to say thank you, and he sure as hell doesn't box you in so that there's no way out.

Lance grabbed on to the arm on his right. "Maybe you've—" He froze. The arm on his right should be Shiro's left, which is non-galra. So why does he feel cold, hard metal?

"Shiro?" He squeaked. Faster than he could react, the hand was around his neck. It twitched, but didn't squeeze.

The hand glowed purple, lighting up Shiro's face. It was him, but it was all wrong. His flop of white hair usually on his left was on his right. Certain indents on his face seemed to have switched sides, and the scar on his nose that usually seemed a bit longer on the right extended a bit on the left. The creepiest part was his eyes. They looked like glass, shiny and glinting in the light. Lance could practically see his reflection. It was like he was staring at a…

"Mirror image." He whispered. His eyes went wide and grabbed at the hand around his neck. "Shiro!" He called out, but his real friend would be asleep and unaware of anything happening.

The reflection of Shiro grinned and leaned in close. He _could_ see his reflection in those eyes.

"Thank you for giving me that mirror. I can finally see who I really am."


End file.
